


Don't Try to Live So Wise

by Kita_the_Spaz



Category: Naruto
Genre: Community: kakairu_fest, Gen, Inspired by Music, Iruka's a ninja too, KakaIru Month 2015, M/M, Sick Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-28
Updated: 2015-06-28
Packaged: 2018-04-06 14:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4225776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kita_the_Spaz/pseuds/Kita_the_Spaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the Month of KakaIru 2015 on the June 11th prompt <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcseamG7ReY"> Wind by Akeboshi</a>.</p><p>Returning from a mission, Iruka stumbles across a sick Kakashi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Try to Live So Wise

Iruka crouched at the edge of the river, drinking out of his cupped hands and weary right down to the bone. The mission hadn’t been hard, but four poisoning attempts really took it out of a body. Thankfully, they hadn’t known he was shinobi and had built up a resistance to most common toxins. Not that they hadn’t made him excruciatingly uncomfortable at times, though.

Still, he was more than glad to be headed home, if for nothing else than a couple of days recovery time. He’d have to check in with the medics first, but the remains of the various deadly cocktails in his blood would no doubt convince them that he needed a couple of days of downtime.

The bushes on the opposite side of the river rattled and two figures crashed through them almost before Iruka could reach for a weapon. He had one in hand less than a heartbeat later, because, while the distinctive silver hair and masked face of one of the two struggling men was more than enough for identification, the wash of malignant chakra from his opponent sent spikes of alarm through Iruka’s senses. 

Hatake Kakashi landed in the water with a splash but quickly brought his hands together in a flurry of signs too rapid for Iruka to follow. 

A howling wolf of water erupted from the river, sinking dagger-like fangs into the shoulder of Kakashi’s opponent and throwing him several feet away with what looked like a contemptuous shake of its head. The man splashed down hard in the water, blood making the water that rippled around him a washed-out red.

Kakashi stood poised in a ready stance, but Iruka could tell he was rapidly nearing the end of his strength. His hands shook with the faintest of tremors and the skin around his bared Sharingan was red and inflamed, while the shadow under his closed eye seemed to grow darker by the second.

The water-wolf swirled around Kakashi twice before disappearing. Most of Kakashi’s strength seemed to go with it and he sank down to one knee. His Sharingan was still darting and active, scanning the trees as if waiting for more enemies to appear. 

Iruka stepped out of the treeline, hands held out and open to show he was unarmed.

“I’m a friend,” he called out when it seemed Kakashi didn’t recognize him.

Kakashi blinked uncomprehendingly at him for a moment, before closing his Sharingan and going down on hands and knees in the water. He was shaking harder now and seemed to be fighting nausea, his throat working in convulsive swallows beneath the mask.

Iruka passed by him, not close enough to touch, but just letting his chakra brush against Kakashi’s in a soothing gesture. He hauled Kakashi’s opponent out of the water by his hair. He was still alive, though if Iruka hadn’t pulled his face from the water, he’d have drowned.

Iruka glanced at the scarred metal plate hanging loosely around the man’s neck. Mist. “Do you need him alive?” He asked calmly.

There was a choking, garbled sound behind him and Kakashi coughed out a negative, before retching violently.

Iruka hauled the nin the rest of the way out of the water before dispassionately slitting his throat and dumping his body on the bank. He searched his clothes and effects with efficient haste, pocketing anything that looked like it might be important, before dropping an incendiary tag on the corpse. No point in leaving the body around to attract interest or wild animals.

Iruka returned to Kakashi’s side, this time moving to support him while Kakashi heaved. Iruka noted that it was mostly stomach acid and bile, so Kakashi either hadn’t eaten recently, or had already rid himself of everything in his stomach. “Poison?” he asked quietly.

Spitting and trying to wash his mouth out with shaking handfuls of river water, Kakashi shook his head. “No,” he rasped in a painful sounding voice. “Picked up something during the mission. Can’t keep much down; weaker than I should be and feverish,” he went on as if he were reporting injuries to a medic. “Dizzy.”

Iruka brushed a palm against the bare skin of Kakashi’s face. It did feel far warmer than it should, and damp with sweat. “You’ve got it good,” he noted absently, sliding Kakashi’s arm over his shoulder and heaving him bodily out of the water. Kakashi wavered beside him before apparently deciding his legs still worked and struggling up the bank with Iruka’s help.

Iruka spared a glance back at the burn mark on the other bank. “He have any friends I should know about?”

Kakashi shook his head and then swayed dizzily. “Don’t— _urgh_ — think so.”

Iruka grunted and shifted his weight to keep them both on their feet. “Terrific. Don’t pass out on me now, Hatake.”

Kakashi tried to look offended, but wasn’t able to hold the expression. “My knees are shaking,” he complained weakly.

Heaving a sigh, Iruka rolled his eyes. “Fuck this.” he muttered.

Carrying Kakashi over his shoulder would be easier, but damned if he was going to have him vomit down his back and shoulder. Adjusting the arm he was using to support Kakashi, Iruka ducked and scooped Kakashi off the ground, holding him close to his chest. “Warn me if you’re going to blow chunks again, okay?”

Kakashi grunted a surprised assent, looping his arm a little tighter around Iruka’s neck.

Carefully scaling a tree while using only his chakra and carrying a comrade like this was a new experience for Iruka, and one he hoped not to have to repeat again. By the time they were safely in the canopy and moving away from the river, Iruka was breathing hard through clenched teeth. Multiple poisonings had weakened him, no doubt. “I’ve got a campsite by the waterfall. We can hole up there until you’re better. Unless you’re carrying time-sensitive information?”

Kakashi shook his head and groaned again. Iruka paused in case he had to vomit again. Thankfully, he managed to keep the sickness at bay. “No, just papers for a proposed treaty. Still need to get back to the village to report though.”

Iruka huffed in annoyance. “Stop being a martyr. Reports can wait until you can make it home without puking on your feet and passing out.”

“Wiseass,” Kakashi grumbled.

Iruka smirked. “So I am, and at least that makes me wiser than you, dumbass.”

Kakashi growled softly, but didn’t argue.

Iruka grinned down at him. “I know you think waiting is wasting time, but sometimes you have to. You’ll get home faster if you give yourself some time to recover, instead of pushing yourself too far until you collapse before you get there.”

“Fine,” Kakashi snorted.

Despite his unhappy burden, Iruka made it back to his camp fairly quickly. He could feel the heat of Kakashi’s fever, even through the man’s clothes. It worried him.

Quickly settling Kakashi on his bedroll, Iruka grabbed his cookpot and some bandages and hurried out to the waterfall, filling the pot with the icy water and darting back inside. soaking the bandages, he draped soe over Kakashi’s fever-flushed forehead and packed more around his neck.

Kakashi hissed and flinched away from the cold water.

“I have to bring your fever down,” Iruka explained, tucking the wet cloth back into place. He had to admit, he was getting rather worried now. Kakashi’s eye was looking distinctly unfocused, his pupil contracted down to a pinpoint. Iruka didn’t dare uncover the Sharingan, but he had no doubt it would be much the same.

The sky darkened and he left Kakashi’s side only long enough to light a fire and put a kettle on for tea, knowing that he would need it before the night was over.

He continued his attempts to bring Kakashi’s raging fever down, growing more concerned, not less, when Kakashi slipped into sleep. He tossed his head restlessly, fighting Iruka’s ministrations, and mumbling in fever-dreams.

And what dreams they were... 

Iruka listened as Kakashi re-lived events in jumbled dreams. He soothed Kakashi with quiet words when Kakashi apologized frantically to his father for sneaking out of class when he was just five. He stroked Kakashi’s damp hair while Kakashi wept for the teammate he couldn’t save and begged for the forgiveness of the one he killed. He knew the moment that those dreams darkened even further and whispered reassurances in Kakashi’s ear that they were only dreams.

It was hours later when the fever finally broke and Kakashi sank into real sleep. Achingly tired, Iruka cleaned up and stretched out on the ground next to the bedroll. He rested a gentle hand on Kakashi’s wrist so that the first sign of Kakashi stirring would wake him, and closed his eyes.

He woke to see mismatched eyes regarding him in the half-light of dawn, before the blood red one winked shut. Kakashi regarded him tiredly. “Thank you,” he murmured softly, his voice ragged and full of emotions he rarely let show.

Iruka managed a sleepy smile. “Sometimes it’s okay to just live,” he mumbled tiredly. “Stop trying to be the leader all the time and shouldering all the pain by yourself. Just live and don’t regret.”

Kakashi sighed. “I’ll try,” he offered quietly. “But I’ll regret not sharing the bed with you if you don’t get over here. It wouldn’t do if you got sick too.”

“Smartass,” Iruka muttered, shuffling himself off the cold stone and next to Kakashi’s warmth. He drifted back off with Kakashi’s arm draped companionably over his waist.

**Author's Note:**

> I kind of used the music as a leaping off point. Comments and crit welcomed. No Beta so stop any egregious abuse of the english language I may have committed!
> 
> Sorry if Iruka cold-bloodedly offing the enemy nin bugged anyone, but he is a ninja too.
> 
> Work's been eight kinds of crazy, so I've barely had any time this month to work on fics. I was really hoping to do more. ~frowns and shakes fist~ Why do we have to have real life?


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